Press Release, 19.06.2025

Photo: Kirill Goncharov and Maxim Kruglov at the office of the Prefecture of the Central Administrative District, Moscow/ Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

The initiators of the action are Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov, as well as representatives of the Moscow branch of the party: authorised representative of the regional branch Maxim Kruglov, Deputy Chairman of Moscow Yabloko Kirill Goncharov, and members of the Moscow branch Alexei Krapukhin and Ivan Dorofeyev.

“The one-person pickets will be a continuation of the campaign for the removal of the bas-relief. We are already collecting signatures on the Yabloko party website and in our Moscow office, but we see a demand from our supporters for other lawful actions as well. The series of one-person pickets is one of the first such steps,” Kirill Goncharov commented.

The application has been submitted to the Central Administrative District Prefecture of Moscow. The date and time of the one-person pickets will be published after the action gets a permission.

It should be noted that Yabloko condemned the Moscow Department of Transport’s initiative to install a bas-relief depicting Joseph Stalin, the Department’s initiative became known only a few days before unveiling the bas-relief. The Moscow branch of the party called to immediately abandon the installation of the bas-relief and focus on preserving and perpetuating the memory of victims of repressions.

Yabloko also continues to insist on the necessity of a state-legal assessment of the Bolshevik coup and conducting systematic de-Stalinisation of the country.